One of the over-riding impressions of the Conference is the massive change going on in the business of games. Some 90% of industry revenue currently comes from the sale of packaged product: consoles and licensed- or first- party titles for them. The remaining 10% represents everything else: PC titles, mobile games, SNS (Social Network Software, aka Facebook) games, subscription MMO’s, Free-to-Play MMO’s and the rest.

But this is changing fast.

The traditional consoles are, at best, not growing in sales and are likely contracting. Gordon Walton mentioned it in his Localization Summit Keynote (“It’s no secret …”). In the world market, the major growth regions of China and India are awash in pirated package product, giving little incentive to develop (and localize) such products for these markets.

All of the growth in the industry is coming from mobile apps, SNS games and Free-to-Play MMO’s. Even though revenue from these titles is small, the tremendous growth that they are seeing means that almost all new business investment and most of the best minds in the industry are gravitating there.  Peter Vesterbacka, creator of Angry Birds, said at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference that console gaming is “Dead”.

Phil Harrison, a former Sony Computer Entertainment President, was even more blunt at GDC. “If this conference was called ‘Game Publishers Conference,’ I think everyone would be in the bar crying into their beer and being just miserable.”

It’s not hard to see why this shift is happening. In the West, game players (along with everyone else) are suffering through the Great Recession. In the East, most particularly in China and India, the console paradigm never established itself for reasons of piracy and cost, with most players having far less disposable income than their counterparts in the West. Hence, fewer and fewer people are paying $60 for a disk to load into a $500 console to entertain themselves. Taking out a cellphone you already own and playing Angry Birds ($0.99) seems much more sensible.

This means an enormous change for the business. The new growth players are much smaller, face a far more competitive marketplace, and yield revenue far less than others once received by selling disks for $50 to $70 each. See Trip Hawkins’ (founder of EA, now with Digital Chocolate) tirade on the subject here.

Now for the $100,000 question: What does this mean for Localization?

Until now, most localization in the games field has been contracted by a few large publishers (THQ, TakeTwo, Sony, etc.) to agencies (Babel, Apogee, Binari, etc.). These agencies then farm out the individual pieces of their projects to translators, as well as providing voice-over recordings, project management and consulting.

This worked fine with the console paradigm. It does not work in the new world, where margins are smaller and most publishers are not large, well-funded public companies. Now every cost is analyzed, so it is far more practical, even necessary — essential — for publishers large and small to hire translators directly. And this is where the growth of our industry lies now.

Most of the new games are simple and text- or image-based. There is no voice-over. The role of translation is simply that, translation of text with a round of proofing provided in linguistic test. There is no room for a middleman in this low margin environment.

For most of us in the industry, this means a sea change is in the making.

Apogee has already made its place in the new world. We’ve announced our intention to re-organize as a non-profit corporation and operate as a Translators’ Advocate. We’ve started the Apogee Certified Translators program which allows publishers — small and large alike — to hire translators directly, by knowing at a glance who they can trust to handle their titles. In our first move, we released all of our best translators in 15 languages and are now encouraging them to communicate directly with end clients. Every quarter starting on April 15, we will be releasing a new list of high quality translators. Apogee is offering ala carte services to replace those of a fully featured game localization agency, including translator sourcing, management and back office bookkeeping.

It’s not a question whether the new world is better or worse than the old; things change, and we all need to change with them. There are no more buggy whip manufacturers in our world. Old business models are dying constantly: book stores, video rental outlets, and the like.

And there are good aspects to this. By using translators directly, cost per word drops dramatically. It suddenly becomes feasible to release games in 30, 40 or 50 languages. Vast parts of the world that have never before seen well localized game products will now get them delivered on their cellphones … and soon to their tablets.

Its our role and our duty as leaders of this industry to change with the times, and make things better than they ever were before!

I have a surprising number of friends and colleagues living in and visiting Japan right now.

I’ve written some notes on the relevant nuclear issues with links and placed them on my personal website. It’s located here; feel free to pass the link along if you feel it is valuable.

I’ll update the site with additional information as time goes on.

Best regards,
Ed Steussy

1. Does Apogee Certify agencies? No, and here’s why. Agencies don’t do translations, people do. If we certify an agency, there is no way to know exactly who is actually handling translation work. Translations are done by individuals, so only those individuals can be Certified.

That said, we have no problem with an agency that wants to advertise that they ONLY use Apogee Certified Translators (so long as it is true). There are probably other good ways to show affiliation with the program, and we’re open to suggestions. But the understanding is that individual translators are the heroes of our story, not processes or organizations.

2. The Smartphone Requirement. All Apogee Certified Translators must own and use email-capable smartphones. And, yes, that is a requirement.

“Why?”, shout more than a few perplexed people. “What does a high tech toy have to do with our work?”

Let me tell you a story. When Apogee was working in a new language three years ago, we identified three translators to work with us. In the end, all three proved equally capable, but one of them had a Blackberry. He was able to answer any question or issue we had within fifteen minutes. This was gold. That translator is now on our Apogee Certified Translator list. The other two are long forgotten.

I suspect that many, even most, translators who are without instant and continuous access to email have lost work like the two unfortunate and talented forgotten souls in my story. And Apogee Certified Translators need to stand out from the rest of their brethren, not only in quality of translation, but in responsiveness to clients. This is what makes them different. This is what makes them special.

If you want to be an Apogee Certified Translator and you don’t have a smartphone, it’s time to go out and get one.

Today we are launching Apogee’s Translator Certification Program. Apogee will query, test and research all applicants to determine their quality of translation and ability to communicate with clients and colleagues. These translators are the best of the best. Publishers can feel assured that their valuable properties are being well taken care of in the hands of an Apogee Certified Translator.

The website explaining the Certification program is here.

The list of Certified translators is available here.

Translators interested in being Certified should follow this link.

Publishers interested in being part of Apogee’s Client Publisher program should link here.

Below is a brief introduction to the program. The text is a transcription of the video.

Welcome to Apogee Certification! Apogee tests and verifies translators in all languages of the world. We ensure that Certified translators are not only able to deliver excellent translations, but that they are professional businesspeople who quickly respond to clients’ needs.

My name is Edwin Steussy, and I am the President of Apogee Communications. I started my first translation agency in 1989 in Taipei, Taiwan, converting Chinese into English for the computer manufacturers in the region. I’ve been running translations in the United States since 1996 and it has been my exclusive business since 2003, when Apogee was formed.

In all that time, there has been a gradual change in the industry. When I was running translations in Los Angeles in the late 90′s, all of my translators were local Los Angeles residents; professional translators in some cases, self-taught dual language speaking individuals in others.

Starting in about 2000, we converted to using more and more home-based translators working over the internet. It was a new idea at the time to “off-shore” work. We received much higher quality work, typically from much more professional translators.

As time has gone on, more of our clients saw that they could do the same work as an agency; hire translators from abroad directly, and save on the middleman’s profit. It’s called disintermediation.

This is a good thing. Translators now work much more closely with their clients. Clients have direct access to translators to get work done quickly and efficiently. Questions can be answered more quickly – problems solved faster.

The biggest issue in this new set-up is determining who is a good translator, and who is a mediocre or bad one. This is where Apogee comes in. By Certifying truly excellent and efficient translators, and publishing their names and contacts for all to see, we take the guesswork out of translation hiring.

Apogee further assists Client Publishers’ by making them the priority recipients of newly Certified translators, consulting on difficult job problems and providing back-office invoicing and purchase order processing.

Globalization. Direct contacts. Certification. Come here to find the best of the best. Come and be part of us.

Stephanie graciously conceded yesterday morning in a public email. I look forward to meeting her for the first time at the Summit coming in late February.

I want to heartily thank everyone who voted for me. To those who did not vote for me, don’t worry. I am not the Anti-Christ. It is not my intention to bring the SIG crashing down as the sole non-founding member of the board.

Much the opposite – it is my role to join the Committee and inject new life and ideas to the organization. I clearly outlined those in my candidate statement and I stand behind them. The SIG is the world’s leading body and authority on Game Localization issues. The unfortunate fact is that Game Loc is not as well-respected or received as it should be. There are lots of reasons for this, but the SIG can work to combat these perceptions and the realities they create.

These are still early days in game localization. The industry remains an English-dominated one, with some interesting exceptions. It is our job to facilitate the transition of the industry to a truly international, multilingual one.

The advent of an official Localization Summit has been a major asset to the community at large. And I think it can be made better. As I see it, there are three primary participants in the Loc SIG: Producers, Vendors and the Creators of Tools. All three perform highly necessary functions, and the SIG should work to make them more effective and, collectively, make all of our voices louder.

I’ve spoken with several producers who are fighting inside their companies to gain more recognition; to get more languages and more distribution to bring videogames fully into the world, much as movies are today. It’s an uphill fight. Vendors, both individual translators and agencies, are working to hone their craft and achieve recognition. Tool creators are giving us the implements we need. And all need a little bit of help, which the SIG can provide.

My bio is located here. My official statement is below. I’m proud to offer my assistance in growing our small but essential part of the game community.

My name is Edwin Steussy, and I am the CEO of Apogee Communications. I opened my first translation agency (Ch->En, in Taiwan) in 1988 and began translation for the game industry in 1996. I’ve lived in six different countries (US, Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic , Hungary, as well as Taiwan) and run businesses in five of them. I have an undergraduate degree in Physics from Northwestern University, as well as graduate studies in Mandarin Chinese. The only business I have done since 2003 is game localization.

I see three essential areas for the SIG. In order:

#1. Promote Localization in the Industry.

This should be the primary focus of the organization. The key to promotion is money and the enlightened self-interest of the major publishers. For a business as mature and stalwart as videogames, the industry has not yet fully embraced localization. In fact, during the recent downturn, some of the largest publishers took to reducing the number of languages they publish in. While this was not true of Vanessa Woods’ part of Sony nor Richard Honeywood’s former employer Blizzard, large firms such as EA trimmed their language offerings and other publishers cut back expansion plans.

To that end, I’ve been amassing as much data as possible on the international business of videogames. While final profit and loss numbers will likely be forever shielded from outsiders, we do have access to data from public companies, as well as ancillary information from persons working inside those companies. With enough data, collectively mined from numerous companies, we help localization managers as they fight politically for more and better localizations inside their companies.

#2. Specific Service Promotion.

Further, the SIG should aggressively promote the abilities of its members in assisting publishers in their localization needs, including publishing a database of services, translators and agencies that make up the SIG for easy use and reference by gaming community.

#3. Define Standards

As with other technical SIGS, we should also be the force for rationalizing and standardizing our field. Defining industry standards, recommending essential tool sets for easy use between companies and games, and setting standards of excellence through awards or other forms of recognition.

These are all essential, life-giving activities of the SIG.

With these in mind, I submit my name for the Localization Special Interest Group Steering Committee.

If you did not receive your copy of the new pricelist, let me know right away!

Ed Steussy

Personally more important, this was my first trip to China in 21 years. My first localization agency — indeed, the first business I ever started — was a high-tech Chinese->English house in Taiwan in the 1980′s. I spent an extra ten days in the Shanghai/Suzhou area re-acquiring my Chinese (details here). I also had a chance to try out technical communications from behind China’s Great Firewall (see here, recommended for anyone new traveling to China).

The participants at the LISA conference included some of the largest translation houses in the world, as well as small specialty houses working only in Chinese and more than a few major clients (partial list is here).

The setting (a five star hotel in Suzhou, one hour from Shanghai) was excellent. The three of us presenting for video games were welcomed with open arms, as there is much interest in our specialty from those outside our business. I would strongly encourage more outreach by video game localizers to organizations like LISA, with their broad background in different businesses and translations tools. They have much to offer.

My presentation (available below in Chinese and English) is a general backgrounder in video game business and history, along with the current status of the world video game industry. At the end, I piece China into the puzzle.

Conclusion? There will be less translation into Chinese (due to market particulars, including legal barriers and rampant piracy), and more work for Chinese to English and other languages (given the high-quality of locally produced MMO, Free-to-Play titles — an area where Chinese developers have a 5 year lead on the West).

Victor Alonso Lion from Pink Noise, who gave a simply excellent Spanish Language presentation at GDC last year, gave an equally excellent presentation on the differences in handling video game localizations to other kinds of localization, aimed at professionals.

The differences? Size — the latest batch of MMO’s are running over a million words per title. Malleability — no other localization branch has to swap genders, objects and actions on-the-fly like interactive entertainment. Cultural issues — different countries have strong laws or customs about what can be said or shown in entertainment.

And the list goes on …

His presentation drew the second-highest ratings at the LISA conference amongst the workgroup sessions.

LISA ASIA Forum – Localizing Interactive Media & Game

View more presentations from Victor Alonso Lion.

Rolf Klischewski not only gave a presentation, No Man’s Tool, detailing the inadequacies of the current generation of translation tools for video game work; he also ran a day-long workshop on game localization issues for professionals with little or no experience in the field.

Rolf’s presentation is available here.

I’ve been invited to speak at the LISA (Localization Industry Standards Association) conference in Suzhou, June 28 to June 30. I’ll be the lead speaker in the games track, giving an overview on the rise of the industry, effects of translation/localization and what this means for China. Other speakers are Victor Alonso Lion (Pink Noise) and Rolf Klischewski (gameslocalization.com).

I’ll be sure to leave my impressions here.

Note that contact numbers and email while I am in China will be unchanged. How I so love the digital world!